Cream cheese and similar products are ubiquitous in modern diets. They generally have a smooth texture and a bland, unremarkable flavor. Spreadability makes cream cheese convenient to use, which is the primary basis for its choice by consumers over other firmer cheeses and the reason for its high volume consumption as a topping, for example on breads including bagels. In the classic method for making cream cheese, a pasteurized milkfat fluid such as cream, having a butterfat content generally within a range of between about 34.5% by weight and 52% by weight, is the primary raw material. This milkfat fluid is subjected to thorough digestion by lactic acid-producing bacteria, homogenized, and clotted by enzymes or direct acidification. The milkfat fluid is thus transformed into a solid phase referred to as the curd, and a liquid phase referred to as the whey. Most of the butterfat content of the milkfat fluid is retained in the curd; and significant protein content, having nutritional value and much of the desirable potential flavor, remains in the whey. The curd is then processed into the desired cream cheese product, and the whey is discarded, along with its flavor. As a result, cream cheese typically has a bland, dull, virtually unnoticeable taste. The retention of liquid whey in the curd is a problem in itself, as the liquid gradually leaks out of the curd in an unappealing and ongoing separation that is called syneresis. In addition, large scale cream cheese production generates corresponding quantities of often unusable whey, which thus becomes a waste expense and environmental detraction unless some other use can be found for it. Syneresis can similarly be a problem in many other cheese products.
The minimum butterfat content for cream cheese is 33% by weight. It is a pervasive goal in the human diet to consume less fat; and the relatively high butterfat content of a typical cream cheese is not helpful in achieving this goal. Countless attempts have been made to make low-fat cream cheese products, but the resulting cheese products have failed due to unacceptable taste and poor texture. High fat concentrations are also a problem in many other cheese products.
Yogurt, another highly prevalent milk-derived product, has an entirely different consistency than cream cheese, as well as a fundamentally different flavor. In illustration, yogurt is considered to be a food, whereas cream cheese is considered to be a condiment. For example, yogurt, unlike cream cheese, is not a popular topping for bread products such as bagels. On the other hand, yogurt has a robust, desirable flavor. Yogurt also is typically lower than cream cheese in butterfat, cholesterol and sodium, and higher in protein.
A health-conscious consumer might well make the simple observation that nonfat yogurt has a robust, desirable flavor, find the concept of combining yogurt and cream cheese to be desirable, and thus attempt to combine these products together. However, due to the disparate properties of cream cheese and yogurt, including for example their differing consistencies, water content, and food chemistries, the combination of cream cheese and yogurt in mutually appreciable proportions only generates a runny mess. A consumer might then attempt to drain the liquid from the solid phase of the yogurt before combining in the cream cheese, thereby discarding whey from the yogurt. Similar problems can be expected where other types of cheeses are substituted for cream cheese, where an attempt to combine such cheeses with yogurt is made.
Producing a cream cheese having an appealing consistency and utility, for example as a spreadable topping, is not possible by mixing cream cheese and yogurt without also adulterating these ingredients either by discarding whey from the yogurt or cream cheese, or by adding substantial proportions of gums and processed milk byproducts such as milk protein concentrate, whole milk protein, whey protein concentrate, casein, Baker's cheese, yogurt powder, and dry cottage cheese curd. At that point, the product is no longer cream cheese but a processed cheese spread, typically having inferior texture and nutritional value, and a flavor that is either bland or even mildly unpleasant. Efforts have also been made to produce so-called low-fat cream cheese, but again the resulting product has offered a bland, unremarkable and potentially unpleasant flavor. Hence, despite the broad popularity of cream cheese, its use typically entails consumer acceptance of a minimum butterfat content of 33% by weight, along with high cholesterol and sodium, and a bland, unremarkable taste.
In addition to cream cheese, many other currently-available cheese-like dairy products also lack the health benefits of yogurt. For example, butter products in the form of either spreads or bricks often have very high milkfat concentrations. Further for example, margarine products, which are designed to substitute for butter, often have very high oil concentrations. Neither of these product classes typically comprises substantial concentrations of protein.
Accordingly it would be highly desirable to provide a process for making an improved cheese product from a milkfat fluid, having the consistency of high-milkfat cheese but combining the desirable flavor and nutritional benefits of yogurt with the flavor of whey retained from the milkfat fluid, yielding a robust taste. The resulting yogurt-cheese product would be a welcome substitute for its faintly-tasting high-fat progenitors while simultaneously improving cheese production economics and protecting the environment. Since the butterfat content of yogurt is typically within a range of between about 0% and about 3.25% by weight, and commonly less than about 0.5% by weight, the combination of yogurt into a cheese product also would desirably yield a cheese product having a lower overall butterfat content and a relatively higher protein content. Cholesterol accompanies butterfat, so that the cholesterol content of this product would also be reduced.